Friday, June 30, 2006

One foggy night, as the admiral was walking along the deck of his battleship, he saw the light of another ship approaching in the distance. Quickly he went down to the radio room and had a message sent: "Ajust your course 10 degrees starbord."

admiral n. 海軍上將、艦隊司令

battleship n. 戰艦、主力艦

But the message came back "Adjust your course 10 degrees port"

This began to anger the admiral, so he thought he needed to make himself clear. He sent the message "This is an order from an Admiral. Ajust your course 10 degrees starbord."

But the message came back "I am a petty officer, second class. Adjust your course 10 degrees port"

petty officer n. 海軍下士

If the admiral was angry before, he was furious now. No way did he take orders from a petty officer! He ordered a message sent which would make his position clear: "This is a nuclear battleship. Ajust your course 10 degrees starbord."

And again the message came back "This is a lighthouse. Adjust your course 10 degrees port"

The US Standard railroad gauge (distance between the rails) is 4 feet, 8.5 inches. That's an exceedingly odd number. Why was that gauge used? Because that's the way they built them in England, and the US railroads were built by English expatriates.

gauge n. 標準規格、標準尺寸

exceedingly adv. 極度地=extremely

expatriate n. 移民國外者、被流放(國外)者

v. 1.流放 2.使放棄原國籍、使移居國外

adj. 被流放(國外)的、移居國外的

Why did the English people build them like that? Because the first rail lines were built by the same people who built the pre-railroad tramways, and that's the gauge they used.

tramway n. 電車軌道

Why did "they" use that gauge then? Because the people who built the tramways used the same jigs and tools that they used for building wagons, which used that wheel spacing.

jig n. 裝配架

Okay! Why did the wagons use that odd wheel spacing? Well, if they tried to use any other spacing the wagons would break on some of the old, long distance roads, because that's the spacing of the old wheel ruts.

rut

n.

車槽、凹痕

老規矩、慣例、常規

v. 在...挖槽、在...形成車轍

n. (雄鹿、雄羊等的)發情、發情期 be in the rut

v. 發情

So who built these old rutted roads? The first long distance roads in Europe were built by Imperial Rome for the benefit of their legions. The roads have been used ever since. And the ruts? The initial ruts, which everyone else had to match for fear of destroying their wagons, were first made by Roman war chariots. Since the chariots were made for or by Imperial Rome they were all alike in the matter of wheel spacing.

legion

n.

古羅馬軍團

軍隊、部隊

眾多、大量 a legion of admirers

adj. 眾多的、大量的

chariot n. 雙輪戰車

Thus, we have the answer to the original questions. The United States standard railroad gauge of 4 feet, 8.5 inches derives from the original specification for an Imperial Roman army war chariot. Specs and Bureaucracies live forever.

So, the next time you are handed a specification and wonder what horse's rear came up with it, you may be exactly right. Because the Imperial Roman chariots were made to be just wide enough to accommodate the back-ends of two war horses.

In 1908, a spectacular explosion occurred over central Siberia, probably caused by a meteorite. The fireball reportedly could be seen hundreds of miles away.西伯利亞中部發生強烈爆炸，可能是由隕石撞擊地球引發，據報百英哩外都看得到火球

Siberia n. 西伯利亞

meteorite n. 隕石、流星

In 1923, jazz pioneer Sidney Bechet made his first recording. It included "Wild Cat Blues": and "Kansas City Blues."爵士樂先驅Sidney Bechet錄下第一張唱片

In 1934, German leader Adolf Hitler ordered a bloody purge of his own political party, assassinating hundreds of Nazis whom he feared might become political enemies some day.希特勒血腥清黨，暗殺數百位他怕未來會成為政敵的納粹份子

purge n. 清洗、淨化，這裡是指"清黨"

In 1936, Margaret Mitchell's Civil War novel "Gone With the Wind" was published.Margaret Mitchell著作的南北戰爭小說"飄"出版

In 1950, U.S. troops were moved from Japan to help defend South Korea against the invading North Koreans.美軍從日本推進南韓，協助抵禦北韓南進

In 1971, three Soviet Cosmonauts, crewmembers of the world's first space station, were killed when their spacecraft depressurized during re-entry.史上第一個太空站的三位蘇聯太空人在重返地球時因太空艙失壓而被殺

cosmonaut n. (尤其指前蘇聯)太空人

depressurize v. 失壓

In 1992, Fidel Ramos was inaugurated as the eighth Philippine president in the first peaceful transfer of power in a generation.Fidel Ramos就任第八任菲律賓總統，是該世代第一個和平轉移政權的例子

inaugurate v.

使...正式就任 He was inaugurated as President.

開展 inaugurate a campaign

為...舉行開幕式 The mayor inaugurated a bridge.

In 1994, the U.S. Figure Skating Association stripped Tonya Harding of her 1994 national championship title.美國花式溜冰協會取消Tonya Harding 1994年的全國冠軍頭銜

In 2000, the Presbyterian Church ordered its ministers not to conduct same-sex unions.長老會命令神職人員們不准帶領同性的小組聚會

Presbyterian n. 長老會教會

conduct v. 帶領

In 2002, Israel announced it had killed a top Hamas bomb-maker, responsible for the deaths of more than 100 Israelis in suicide attacks, and had begun work on an electronic fence designed to block off three sides of Jerusalem from the West Bank.以色列聲稱處決了一名哈瑪斯組織的頭號自殺炸彈客，他發動的攻擊造成上百名以色列人傷亡。以色列政府同時聲稱他們設計了可以防衛耶路撒冷三側以防範攻擊的電子柵欄設施。

And in 2002 sports, Brazil won its fifth World Cup soccer championship with a 2-0 victory over Germany.

In 2003, after agreeing on a cease-fire with the Palestinians, Israel pulled out of most of the Gaza strip, ending for the time being a blockade on the main highway that began in 2000.

Also in 2004, the Cassini spacecraft, after nearly years in space on a U.S.-European mission, became the first to orbit the planet Saturn.在一項美歐合作的任務中，Cassini太空船成為第一個環繞土星的太空船

Saturn n. 土星

In 2005, Israel declared the Gaza Strip a closed military zone. All Israelis, except for residents, service providers and reporters, were barred from entering.以色列宣布加薩走廊為封閉的軍事區，除了居民、服務提供者、記者以外都禁止進入。

Gaza Strip 加薩走廊

bar v. 封鎖、阻隔

And, Spain became the third country to legalize same-sex marriage.西班牙同性婚姻正式合法

Two rednecks go on a fishing trip. They rent all the equipment - the reels, the rods, the wading suits, the rowboat, the car, and even a cabin in the woods. I mean they spend a fortune!

redneck n. 美國南部貧苦農民

reel n. 釣竿上的繞線輪

rod n. 釣竿

wading suit n. 釣魚穿著的涉水服

The first day they go fishing, but they don't catch anything. The same thing happens on the second day, and on the third day. It goes on like this until finally, on the last day of their vacation, one of the men catches a fish.

As they're driving home they're really depressed. One guy turns to the other and says, "Do you realize that this one lousy fish we caught cost us fifteen hundred bucks?"

The other guy says, "Wow! Then it's a good thing we didn't catch any more!"

A woman went out to her yard one morning and found her dog just laying there, not moving at all. She thought it might be dead, but since it was a bassethound and never moved much anyway, she wanted to be sure... after all, she didn't want to bury it and then find out it wasn't. So she took it to the vet.

basset hound n. 矮腿獵犬

vet n. 獸醫

n. a. 老兵(的)、退伍軍人(的)

v. 診療、調查、檢查

The vet agreed to take a look. He shook the dog gently. He checked for a doggy pulse, but couldn't find one. He held a mirror up to the dog's nose but it stayed clear. He said, "Well, the dog does look dead; but I'd like to run one more test."

He goes into the other room and brings back an animal carrier. He opens the door and a cat comes out, walks around the dog two or three times, and finally lifts it's head and tail and goes back into the carrier.

Vet says, "Well, ma'am, I'm sorry to say but your dog is dead."

"Well, that's what I came here to find out," she says, "How much do I owe you?"

"That'll be $520."

"What?" she screams, "$520 to tell me my dog's dead?? Why so much?"

"Well," said the vet, "it's $20 for the office visit, and $500 for the cat scan."

Example sentence:"[Her] attorney does admit that his client had developed 'platonic' relationships with two cons, a couple of yeggs named Ollie and Marvin, but only to gather information." (Fort Collins Coloradoan, December 6, 2002)

platonic a. 理想的、不切實際的

con n. 騙子、詐欺者

------------------------------------------------undertaker \UN-der-tay-ker\ noun承擔(風險)者、承辦人承辦喪葬者=funeral director(forfeited lands in Ireland in the 16th and 17th centuries

forfeited adj. 被沒收的

forfeit v. (因失職、違約、犯罪等而)喪失(權利、名譽、生命等)

forfeit n. 喪失的東西、沒收物、罰金

Example sentence:The undertaker offered the family several choices of coffin for the burial service.-----------------------------------------teleological \tel-ee-uh-LAH-jih-kul\ adjective目的論的: exhibiting or relating to design or purpose especially in nature

Example sentence:"What is the true purpose of life's voyage?" wrote John R. Illingworth in 1907, posing what he termed "the great teleological question."

關聯字

teleology n. 目的論= the study of ends and purposes

teleologist n. 目的論者

-------------------------------------------kinetic \kuh-NET-ik\ adjective【物理】運動的、運動引起的活躍的、有力的1 : of or relating to the motion of material bodies and the forces and energy associated therewith*2 a : active, lively b : dynamic, energizing3 : of or relating to art (as sculpture or assemblage) having mechanical parts which can be set in motion : of or relating to kinetic art

Tuesday, June 20, 2006

noisome \NOY-sum\ adjective1.有害的，有害健康的2.有惡臭的*1 : noxious, harmful2 a : offensive to the senses and especially to the sense of smell b : highly obnoxious or objectionable

obnoxious a. 可憎的、令人非常不愉快的

objectionable

a. 令人討厭的

a. 會引起反對的

Example sentence:"The streets were narrow and very dirty, the air smoky and noisome, the people mostly wretched." ( Ken Follett, The Man from St. Petersburg)

wretched a. 不幸的、可憐的、悲慘的

注意!! noisome 跟 noise 沒有關係~字義中並沒有任何:吵鬧 的意思存在---------------------------------------------------jinni \JEE-nee\ noun回教神話中的神靈*1 : one of a class of spirits that according to Muslim demonology inhabit the earth, assume various forms, and exercise supernatural power2 : a magic spirit believed to take human form and serve the person who calls it : genie

genie n. 神怪、神魔

Example sentence:It's always best to stay on the good side of a jinni, and there are ways to placate a troublesome one.

placate vt. 撫慰、和解

------------------------------------------------------deflagrate \DEF-luh-grayt\ verb使突然燃燒*1 : to burn rapidly with intense heat and sparks being given off2 : to cause to burn in such a manner

Example sentence:Certain materials, such as black powder, will deflagrate rather than cause a violent explosion when they are ignited.

Satan explains, "I have good news and bad news. The bad news is that you have to spend eternity behind one of these doors. But, the good news is that you can take a peek behind each and take your choice."

So, the man opened the first door and saw a room full of people, standing on their heads on a concrete floor. Not very nice, he thought.

Opening the second door, he saw a room full of people standing on their heads on a wooden floor. Better, he thought, but best to check the last door.

Upon opening the last door, he saw a room full of people, standing waist-deep in excrement and sipping coffee.

excrement n. 排泄物

"Of the three, this one looks best," he said and waded in to get something to drink while Satan closed the door.

wade v. 艱難的涉過、越過

A few minutes later the door opened, Satan stuck his head in and said, "Ok, coffee break`s over, back on your heads!"

A man is skydiving, enjoying his free-fall, when he realizes that he has reached the altitude where he must open his parachute. So he pulls on the rip cord, but nothing happens.

skydive v. 特技跳傘

parachute n. 降落傘

rip cord n. 開傘索

"No problem," he says to himself, "I still have my emergency chute." So he pulls the rip cord on his emergency parachute, and once again, nothing happens.

chute n. 【口】降落傘

Now the man begins to panic. "What am I going to do?" he thinks, "I'm a goner!"

goner n. 無可救藥的人(或事)

Just then he sees a man flying up from the earth toward him. He can't figure out where this man is coming from, or what he's doing, but he thinks to himself, "Maybe he can help me. If he can't, then I'm done for."

When the man gets close enough to him, the skydiver cups his hands and shouts down, "Hey, do you know anything about parachutes?"

During a Papal audience, a businessman approached the Pope and made this offer: Change the last line of the Lord's prayer from "give us this day our daily bread" to "give us this day our daily chicken" and KFC will donate 10 million dollars to Catholic charities.

Papal a. 羅馬教皇的

The Pope shook his head and said no to the offer.

Two weeks later the businessman approached the Pope again, this time with a 50 million dollar offer.

Again the Pope declined.

A month later the man offers 100 million, and this time the Pope accepts.

At a meeting of the Cardinals, the Pope announces his decision.

Cardinals n. 樞機主教、紅衣主教

"I have good news and bad news. The good news is, we have 100 million dollars for charities. The bad news is, we lost the Wonder Bread account."

Example sentence:The manager walked quickly back to the dugout as insults and obloquy rained down from the stands.

dugout 【棒球】選手休息區

----------------------------------------------kludge \KLOOJ\ noun七拼八湊而成的電腦/系統: a system and especially a computer system made up of poorly matched components

Example sentence:"The original satellite contrivance was the asynchronous satellite downlink with a phone connection uplink. This was doomed to fail because it was a kludge." (John C. Dvorak, Boardwatch Magazine, February 2002)

Sunday, June 11, 2006

Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson were camping in the forest. They had gone to bed and were lying beneath the night sky. Holmes said, "Watson, look up. What do you see?"

"I see thousands of stars."

"And what does that mean to you?" Holmes asked.

"I suppose it means that of all the planets in the universe, we are truly fortunate to be here on Earth. We are small in God's eyes, but should struggle every day to be worthy of our blessings. In a meteorological sense, it means we'll have a sunny day tomorrow. What does it mean to you, Holmes?"

"That's awful," says the first man. "How does it feel to freeze to death?"

"It's very uncomfortable at first," says the second man. "You get the shakes, and you get pains in all your fingers and toes. But eventually, it's a very calm way to go. You get numb and you kind of drift off, as if you're sleeping. How about you, how did you die?"

drift off 逐漸的睡著

"I had a heart attack," says the first man. "You see, I knew my wife was cheating on me, so one day I showed up at home unexpectedly. I ran up to the bedroom, and found her alone, knitting. I rushed down to the basement, but no one was hiding there. I ran up to the second floor, but found no one there either. I went as fast as I could to the attic, and just as I got there, I had a massive heart attack and died."

attic n. 頂樓、閣樓

The second man shakes his head. "That's so ironic," he says.

"What do you mean?" asks the first man.

"If you had only stopped to look in the freezer, we'd both be still alive."

On a ski lift in Taos, NM: 'No jumping from the lift. Survivors will be prosecuted.'

NM. abbr.=New Mexico 美國新墨西哥州

Road sign seen on the island of Cyprus. (translation of the Greek): 'Caution: Road Slippery from Grapejuice'

A sign advertising a Company wide skiing race: Let's see who can go downhill the fastest.

A billboard seen next to the highway, travelling from Johannesburg International Airport into town. An Ad for BMW showing a photo of a BMW 328i convertible with the roof and all the windows down. The caption reads:' Our hardware runs better without WINDOWS!!!'

convertible n. 活動敞篷車

caption n. 標題

Two signs found on top of one another in a country kitchen several years ago: Restrooms to the left. Please wait for the hostess to seat you.

Seen in a health food store. "Shoplifters will be beaten over the head with an organic carrot"

I went to a little hole in the wall restaurant. The sign read: Women are not served here. You have to bring your own.

Saturday, June 10, 2006

spiel \SPEEL\ noun流利誇張的講話、生意的言詞: a voluble line of often extravagant talk : pitch

voluble a. 健談的、口若懸河的

pitch n. 叫賣、推銷

Example sentence:We let the time-share salesman give us his opening spiel, but when he got to the high-pressure sales tactics, we cut him short and made it clear that we were not interested.-------------------------------------------------caesura \sih-ZYUR-uh\ noun【詩行中的】休止1 : a break in the flow of sound usually in the middle of a line of verse*2 : break, interruption3 : a pause marking a rhythmic point of division in a melody

Example sentence:"Without so much as the caesura of a drawn breath I was first shouting in joy, then screaming in shock." (E.L. Doctorow, World's Fair)

Tuesday, June 06, 2006

Example sentence:"Adorned by minarets and spires and bedizened by more than a million lights, Coney Island embodied what has been called the 'architecture of exhilaration.'" (Blaine Harden, New York Times, August 28, 1999)

minaret n. 清真寺的尖塔

spire n. 尖頂

embody v. 體現

exhilaration n. 愉快的心情、高興

---------------------------------------------------foodie \FOO-dee\ noun美食家、美食主義者: a person having an avid interest in the latest food fads

---------------------------------------------------------sabot \sa-BOH\ noun1.木鞋 2.砲彈軟殼 3.置牌盒1 *a : a wooden shoe worn in various European countries b (1) : a strap across the instep in a shoe especially of the sandal type (2) : a shoe having a sabot strap

strap n. (鞋)帶子

instep n. 腳背

2 : a thrust-transmitting carrier that positions a missile in a gun barrel or launching tube and that prevents the escape of gas ahead of the missile3 : a dealing box designed to hold several decks of playing cards

Example sentence:"All her kind, at least in the countryside, wore... sabots, well past the century's end." (Eugen Weber, France, Fin de Siècle)--------------------------------------expiate \EK-spee-ayt\ verb贖罪、補償transitive1 : to extinguish the guilt incurred by*2 : to make amends forintransitive : to make expiation

expiation n. 補償

Example sentence:"It seemed to me that I was hurried on by an inevitable and unseen fate to this day of misery, and that now I was to expiate all my offences at the gallows...." (Daniel Defoe, Moll Flanders)

Sunday, June 04, 2006

In 1862, Gen. Robert E. Lee took command of the Confederate armies of eastern Virginia and North Carolina in the Civil War.南北戰爭時Robert E. Lee將軍開始統帥南部聯盟東維吉尼亞州與北可羅萊納州的軍隊。

Confederate 【南北戰爭時期的】南部聯盟

In 1865, the Civil War came to an end when Confederate Gen. Edmund Kirby Smith, commander of Confederate forces west of the Mississippi, signed the surrender terms offered by Union negotiators.南北戰爭結束簽署停戰協議。

In 1924, Congress granted U.S. citizenship to all American Indians.美國國會正式認可美洲印地安人的國籍。

In 1946, in a national referendum, voters in Italy decided the country should become a republic rather than return to a monarchy.義大利公民投票決定國家應走向共和制，而非君主政體。

monarchy 君主政體、君主政治

In 1953, Queen Elizabeth II was crowned in London's Westminster Abbey by the Archbishop of Canterbury.英國女王伊莉莎白二世在倫敦西敏寺受冕，加冕儀式由坎特伯里大主教主持。

In 1979, Pope John Paul II returned home to Poland in the first visit by a pope to a communist nation.第一個前往共產國家探視的教宗若望保羅二世結束在波蘭的行程返國。

In 1992, Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton clinched the Democratic presidential nomination as six states had the final primaries of the 1992 political season.阿肯色州州長柯林頓終於贏得民主黨黨內初選，被提名為總統候選人

clinch v. 終於贏得

In 1997, a federal jury in Denver convicted Timothy McVeigh in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing that killed 168 people. He was sentenced to death and subsequently executed.陪審團判定奧克拉荷馬市爆炸案的主嫌死刑。

jury n. 陪審團

In 1999, in parliamentary elections, South African voters kept the African National Congress in power, assuring that its leader, Thabo Mbeki, would succeed the retiring Nelson Mandela as president.南非選民透過大選維持非洲國民大會(南非執政黨)的執政權，並確保其領袖將繼曼德拉後成為下一任總統。

In 2003, U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix said in a report that inspectors before the war had been unable to prove or disprove the presence in Iraq of weapons of mass destruction.聯合國武檢官發表報告指出，在戰前根本無法證實或否認伊拉克是否擁有大規模毀滅型武器。

In 2005, reports say a federal court has ordered the Pentagon to release photographs depicting abuse of detainees at Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad.報導指出一聯邦法院命令五角大廈釋出在巴格達虐囚案的證據相片。

Saturday, June 03, 2006

According to the Knight-Ridder News Service, the inscription on the metal bands used by the U.S. Department of the Interior to tag migratory birds has been changed. The bands used to bear the address of the Washington Biological Survey, abbreviated, "Wash. Biol. Surv." until the agency received the following letter from an Arkansas camper:

inscription 刻印文字、題詞

Department of the Interior 內政部

"Dear Sirs: While camping last week I shot one of your birds. I think it was a crow. I followed the cooking instructions on the leg tag and I want to tell you it was horrible."